James Franco: Shia LaBeouf may be having a nervous breakdown

James Franco thinks Shia LaBeouf is having a meltdown… or maybe just expressing himself (Picture: AP)

James Franco has commented on the apparent meltdown of Shia LaBeouf – suggesting the actor might be succumbing to a nervous breakdown.

But the 35-year-old actor hopes 27-year-old LaBeouf is simply exploring an artistic outlet to vent his own frustrations against Hollywood stereotyping.

‘This behavior could be a sign of many things, from a nervous breakdown to mere youthful recklessness. For Mr LaBeouf’s sake I hope it is nothing serious,’ Franco says.

‘I hope his actions are intended as a piece of performance art, one in which a young man in a very public profession tries to reclaim his public persona.

James Franco has also taken extreme measures to play with his public persona (Picture: Getty)

‘Actors have been lashing out against their profession and its grip on their public images since at least Marlon Brando, who allowed his weight to fluctuate, chose roles that were considered beneath him and turned down the Oscar for best actor in 1973,’ the actor hypothesised.

Indeed, Franco feels like a kindred spirit for LaBeouf having worked to throw off his own perceived image in the past.

‘At times I have felt the need to dissociate myself from my work and public image,’ he says, recounting the time he starred in soap opera General Hospital at the same as starring in Oscar nominated roles.

‘My decision was in part an effort to jar expectations of what a film actor does and to undermine the tacit – or not so tacit – hierarchy of entertainment,’ he wrote in the New York Times.